Stars in the Sky
by lpjmg
Summary: What if Leonard met Penny when he was only 10 years old? When Leonard and his family moves next door to Penny and her family, the two quickly become best friends. But when Leonard starts having feelings for Penny, and vice versa, things will change.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Just so you guys know, I've changed around a few facts about Leonard and Penny, including their age difference, just so everything was easier to write. Written for the BBBB 2011.

The sunshine glared through the window, heating the car up to an uncomfortable ninety-three degrees. Although the driver wanted to roll down the windows for the sake of conserving gas, the pleas from the three children in the back successfully got the air conditioner turned on.

The GPS in the front of the car chattered on, reporting directions to the entire car. The person sitting in the passenger seat pushed her glasses up and observed a map that was lying in her lap. She was calmly stating commands to the driver, who never retaliated to what she was saying. But he didn't hesitate to talk to the passenger behind him.

"How are you doing back there, Leonard?"

Leonard groaned. He was lying on his back, his glasses sitting on his stomach. He was wearing brown corduroy pants and a blue hoodie with sleeves far too long for him.

"When are we going to stop, Father?"

"It's been twenty minutes since we last stopped, Leonard," Leonard's mother replied for his father. "Stop complaining. Your carsickness isn't that bad."

"Don't be so hard on him, Mother," Leonard's sister, Allison, chimed in. She patted her younger brother's head, which was sitting in her lap. He gave her a quick smile. He felt a lot more loved when his sister was with him, which wasn't often. She was always at work, or at college, but for the first time in Leonard's life, Allison was home for two months during summer vacation. She was more like Leonard than their mother, but still smarter and still occasionally liked to flaunt her intelligence to their parents to gain acceptance.

Beverly sighed. "Fine. But you could at least keep quiet, like your brother."

Michael, Leonard's younger brother, was sitting in the row behind Leonard and Allison. He was completely silent, staring out the window and occasionally swinging his legs back and forth. He was a lot more like their parents, a lot less like Leonard, and still full of intelligence. He was also much more immersed in studying, and therefore a lot quieter and reserved.

After another two hours of driving and three pit stops for Leonard, they were at their destination. The car pulled up to a modern-looking house with white walls and a brown roof. It had two stories, with a white gate on one side, and a small garden on the other. The walkway to the front door was lined with stones and gravel.

"We're here. Get out of the car and help us bring everything inside," Leonard's mother announced.

The Hofstadter family had moved from a different city in New Jersey to a place that was closer to Mr. and Mrs. Hofstadter's workplaces. It also had a good distance to an elementary school, middle school, and a high school, ideal for Leonard and Michael.

Allison and Michael were upstairs gathering and organizing everything into their rooms, while Leonard was lying on the couch, trying to recover from the absurdly long car trip.

"Leonard, don't be lazy. Go upstairs and put your belongings into your room."

"But Mother, I feel sick."

Before she could respond back, their doorbell rang. She opened the door as Leonard's father came to the front to see who it was.

Leonard saw another family of five standing in their doorway. A mother, father, and three children, two girls and one boy. They introduced themselves as the Fisher family and as their new neighbors. He heard one of the three children loudly and enthusiastically introduce herself.

"Hi, I'm Penny!" The girl that looked to be a bit younger than Leonard's age held out her hand for Leonard's parents to shake. Beverly simply nodded out of courtesy, while Leonard's father gently shook her hand and smiled.

The parents talked to each other, the Hofstadters asking some general questions about the neighborhood and nearby stores. The girl named Penny walked into the house when she saw Leonard lying on their couch.

He had closed his eyes after seeing the parents converse with each other and didn't see Penny approaching. He nearly fell off the couch when she yelled, "Are you sleeping?"

Leonard put on his glasses and looked up at her with a why-on-earth-did-you-do-that look on his face.

When she saw he was awake, she grinned happily. "Hi, I'm Penny!" She held out her hand again. She was wearing a pink t-shirt and a blue-checkered skirt. Her blonde hair was tied up into a ponytail that sat on top of her head.

He sat up and shook her hand. "Uh, hi, Penny. I'm Leonard."

"Hi, Leonard. I'm your new neighbor!" Leonard nodded and smiled slightly. "We came to say hi to you guys! …How old are you?" she asked.

"I'm ten?" Leonard wasn't sure how to speak to someone so hyper and chatty. And young and female.

"How come you don't sound sure? Don't you know how old you are?"

"Well, yes—I—"

"You're short for someone who's ten."

He blinked a few times, unsure of how to respond. He knew he was shorter than his peers, but no one had ever told him that directly to his face. "Uh, I—uh…"

"I'm nine! I'm gonna turn ten in…" she started counting on her fingers and mouthing what was probably the months of the year. "Eight months."

Though he was initially put off by her incessant rambling, Leonard wasn't surprised that she was so different in maturity. He was used to it at his old elementary school. His parents told him it was because he was special, so he was different from everyone else. He didn't really understand, but his mother and father wouldn't speak to him about it, so he let it go.

Penny tilted her head to the side. "You don't talk much."

He snapped out of his train of thought. "Oh, um. I just—I'm not feeling good right now."

"Why not? Are you sick?"

"Yeah, I got carsick on the drive over."

"Oh." She pointed behind her, to where the rest of her family was standing. "That's my brother and sister. Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

He looked at her siblings and back at her. "Yes, I do. I have a younger brother and an older sister."

"What are their names?"

"Michael and Allison."

"Where are they?"

"Upstairs. They're putting their stuff in their rooms." He was slightly surprised at how curious she was. She asked him about ten questions since she woke him up two minutes ago.

But she obviously wasn't done yet, as she asked yet another question. "How come you're not putting your stuff in your room?"

"Because I'm sick."

"So if you're ten, then maybe you'll go to the same school as me!" Leonard stared at her, slightly wide-eyed. This girl's train of thought seemed to leap from one train to another every second.

"Uh, yeah. Maybe."

"That would be lots of fun. Then I can tell my friends that my neighbor goes to the same school!" She grinned.

He nodded awkwardly. Leonard really didn't know what to say to her.

"We just wanted to say hello and welcome to the neighborhood," Leonard heard Penny's father say. "Come on, Penny, let's not bother them too much."

Penny frowned. "Aww! I wanted to stay and talk!"

"You can talk later, we should go home and eat dinner. And let the Hofstadters have some time to settle down."

She looked back at her new companion, who raised his eyebrows and gave an awkward, yet reassuring smile. "Okay…Bye Leonard!" She smiled, waved, and ran out of the house.

Leonard sighed in relief and lay back down on the couch. But he was interrupted about five seconds later with his mother saying, "Leonard, for the last time, off the couch and upstairs!"

He didn't dare protest, but he didn't really have the strength to either. He trudged upstairs, still thinking about how much he wasn't really looking forward to hyperactive Penny talking to him in the near future.

* * *

><p>Leonard sat in the living room, on the couch, with a notepad in his lap. He was solving various equations that his mother gave to him to complete before he could watch TV. While he was in the middle of his ninth equation, he heard someone scream, "Ow!" just outside the window. He got up, and as he looked outside to see who it was, he started to hear that same person cry.<p>

He wasn't able to see anyone through the window, so he walked outside and looked around until something caught his eye. He saw Penny sitting on the sidewalk, a bicycle on its side next to her. She was clutching her knee, which was bleeding, and crying out for someone to help.

Leonard ran out to her. He kneeled next to Penny and instinctively put his arm around her to comfort her.

"Hey, what happened? Did you fall?"

Penny wiped some tears away and nodded. She looked up at him. "Leonard, it hurts."

"All right, just stay here for a sec. I'll be right back."

"No!" She grabbed onto his jacket. "Don't leave me!"

He looked back at her. "I'm not going to leave you. I'll come right back." She started to cry again, and she tried to pull him closer to her. "Okay, okay. Don't cry…um…"

Leonard wasn't sure what the right thing to do was, so he decided to put his arms under her and pick her up. She clung to him as tight as she could and laid her head on his shoulder as he brought her back into his house. He gently put her down on the couch, all the while thinking her grip was surprisingly strong for a little nine-year-old girl.

Penny continued to whimper from the pain while Leonard ran off to get a first-aid kit. He bent down next to her and as gently as he could, cleaned up the blood and dirt and applied a bandage onto her knee. She grimaced from the pain and gripped his jacket in her hands, but didn't want to complain because she knew Leonard was going to take care of her.

"There. All done." He gave her a smile when she smiled back at him.

"Thank you, Leonard. You're really nice."

"Uh, we should get you back to your house. Are your parents home?"

She nodded and took Leonard's hand. He looked down at their hands hesitantly. He felt uncomfortable, but didn't have a chance to be uncomfortable for very long, as Penny tugged him forward and outside.

He walked Penny back to her house and told her parents what happened. They thanked him several times and offered him a snack. He politely refused, telling them that he had to go back home because he had some things to do.

"Bye, Leonard!" Penny chirped.

"Bye, Penny. I'll see you later."

Maybe hanging out with Penny wasn't going to be so bad after all, he thought.

* * *

><p>It was about ten in the morning, and Leonard was walking down the stairs after having just woken up. He rubbed his eyes and entered the kitchen, where some of his family sat eating breakfast.<p>

Leonard's mother had gone to work, but his father was still in the kitchen, placing pancakes on a plate for Leonard.

"Hey, sleepyhead," Allison said to Leonard as she stuffed another piece of pancake into her mouth.

"Meehhh," he groaned in response. "Morning, Father." He took the plate of pancakes from him and sat down next to Michael.

"All right, I'm off to work. Allison, look over your brothers, okay?"

"I will, Father," she nodded.

He grabbed his briefcase and coat and left for work.

"So, Leonard, I heard that you patched up the little girl next door after she fell off her bike." Allison smiled sweetly at him.

"Where did you hear that?"

"Dad told me. The neighbors called to thank them, and they told him about what happened."

"Oh. Well, I couldn't just leave her out there. She was crying."

Michael spoke up after gulping down his orange juice. "Is that the girl named Penny?"

"Yeah."

"She talks a lot," Michael responded.

"I guess she kinda does." Leonard nodded.

"It's annoying."

Leonard shrugged. "She's not that bad."

After breakfast, Michael retreated to his room to work on the math book he was reading through. Leonard and his sister went to the living room to do their own work.

Allison was in college, and working on something much too complex for ten-year-old Leonard to understand. But he could understand bits and pieces of it, proving to his parents how complex his little mind was.

Leonard wrote on his notepad, reading through various numbers and variables and scratching out his work with a pencil.

A few minutes later, they heard a small knock at their door. Allison stood up and opened it, only to find Penny looking up at her.

"Oh. Hi there, Penny."

"Hello. Is Leonard here?" She asked politely, her hands behind her back.

She smiled. "Yeah, he's right here. Come on in."

"Hi, Leonard!" Penny yelped.

"Hello, Penny." Allison closed the door behind her and gave Leonard a look, grinning at him. He looked back at his sister, confused, wondering why she was smiling like that. "Um, what are you doing here, Penny?"

"I came to talk to you."

"Uh, why me?"

Allison continued to grin at him as she walked back to the couch to watch the two of them.

"Because I don't have anyone else to talk to. And because you saved my life the other day."

Penny's response got an "aww" out of Leonard's sister, but neither of them heard it.

"Well, I didn't really save your life. You just scraped your knee." Leonard shrugged. He awkwardly played with the pencil in his hand, twisting it back and forth.

"But I think you saved my life." She looked at Leonard's notepad. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm working on some equations."

"That looks hard," she squinted at the page.

He shrugged again. "It's not that bad. It's only integrals."

Penny looked back up at Leonard. "How long have you been wearing glasses?"

He stared at her for a few seconds. Her train of thought was jumping again. "Um, I've had them since I was four. So six years, I guess."

"None of my friends wear glasses. So you're my first glasses-wearing friend!"

Leonard raised his eyebrows. "Oh, okay. That's cool."

Allison giggled silently as she tried to look busy writing in her notebook. She didn't want Leonard to think she was listening to their whole conversation.

But during an awkward pause of silence, as Penny was waiting for Leonard to say something, Allison came to her brother's rescue and asked if they wanted some cookies.

"Okay! I love cookies!" Penny chirped.

"Leonard, come help me," she nodded her head toward the kitchen.

Allison reached for the cookie jar while Leonard grabbed some juice from the refrigerator.

"Why aren't you talking to her?"

He looked at her, confused. "I _am_ talking to her."

"I meant, talk to her some more. You're so shy around her."

"But I don't know what to say to her."

"Say what you feel like saying or whatever moves the conversation along."

"Well, okay." He paused and looked back up at her. "Why do you keep smiling at me?" Leonard asked.

She shrugged and smiled again. "No reason."

* * *

><p>"Good night, Leonard." The light flicked off, bathing the room in darkness.<p>

"Good night, Mother." She closed his door when she saw Leonard close his eyes.

The clock read 9:00 PM. Leonard's glasses sat next to his clock, on his nightstand next to the bed. He turned over and hugged a corner of his blanket. His blanket had a Superman print on it, and his bed sheets were Star Wars. He had them for a few years, after he begged his parents to buy it for him. His mother refused, and would not budge. She said it was pointless, and bad for his growing intelligence. His father understood, but was forced to agree with his wife's decision. It was Leonard's sister that bought them, making up some intelligent excuse as to why she bought them for him.

He was half asleep when he heard a knocking at his window. He opened his eyes, unsure of what he just heard. When there was another knock, and he sat up and squinted, trying to see who or what was at his window. After no success, he grabbed his glasses off the nightstand and walked across his room. He initially didn't see anyone in his window, until a few seconds later, when Penny popped up. He jumped back and yelped, immediately clapping his hand over his mouth, hoping that no one heard him.

"Hi, Leonard," he heard her whisper.

Leonard opened his window halfway. "Penny? What are you doing here?" he whispered back. Before she could respond, he noticed that she was standing on a very unsteady looking pipe, and holding onto the side of his window, which was on the second story of the house. He panicked and grabbed her hand. "How did you get up here?" he asked as he quickly pulled her into his room.

"I climbed up."

"Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?" he whispered loudly.

She frowned at his tone. "Are you mad?"

He lowered his voice. "…No. I'm just—worried about you. Um, what are you doing here?" he asked again.

"I saw something really cool in the sky. And I wanted to show you."

"What did you see?"

Penny tugged Leonard toward the window and pointed up. "There's a really bright star up there."

He squinted and eyed the stars in the sky. "Oh. Well, that's Sirius."

"Huh?"

"Sirius. It's the brightest star in the night sky. It's actually part of the constellation, Canis Major."

Penny blinked at him. "What does that mean?"

"Canis Major is Latin for 'greater dog,'"

"There's a _dog_ in the sky?" her mouth dropped.

"Not an actual dog," he replied. "It's just a pattern that looks like a dog. You probably can't see it right now, but I can show you sometime."

"Yeah, I wanna see the dog! Promise you'll show it to me one day?"

"Uh, sure."

"Say you promise!" Penny whispered loudly.

"I promise," Leonard quickly replied.

He looked at Penny, who was scooting closer to him. "You wanna see something else that's pretty cool?"

She nodded excitedly. "Show me!"

Leonard took her hand and pointed to a specific part in the sky. "You see those three stars in a row?"

"Uh huh."

"That's Orion's Belt."

"Ahh," she sighed.

He drew out the Big Dipper with her finger. "And you see that square-looking spoon?"

"Yeah."

He let go of her hand, which dropped to her side. "That's the Big Dipper. It's an asterism that makes up a constellation. The constellation it makes up is Ursa Major, which is a big bear in the sky." Penny smiled at him again. "There's also a little bear in the sky, also known as Ursa Minor. But it's kinda hard to see right now."

"That's so cool!" He grinned at her. "Leonard?"

"Yeah?"

"What's an aftertism?"

"An asterism. It's a pattern of stars. Orion's Belt is also an asterism. It makes up Orion, which is a constellation of a person in the sky."

"Ohhh," she nodded. "You know a lot of stuff. All of my other friends don't know as much as you. You're really awesome."

"Um, well. Y-you should probably go back home. It's pretty late. And you wouldn't want your parents to know you were out in the middle of the night."

"It's okay. My parents like you, so they don't mind."

"Oh." Leonard wasn't sure how to respond. "Well, regardless, you should get your rest."

"Mmm…okay." She stood up and started to climb out the window.

"Wait, Penny! Don't—"

"It's okay, Leonard," she giggled.

Before he could stop her, she was already sliding down the pipe on the side of the house. He looked down at her, frightened that she was going to fall. He let out a breath of relief once he saw she was on the ground safely. She waved at Leonard and mouthed what looked like "Good night, Leonard!"

He waved back at her, smiling, and crawled back into bed. Leonard stared out the window once last time, eyeing the constellation he showed Penny. He couldn't stop hearing her voice in his head. _You're really awesome._ No one had ever told him that before.

* * *

><p>"Leonard! Come downstairs!" Beverly called out.<p>

He abandoned his work to run downstairs at his mother's command. Once he got there, he found his mother, sister, and a dog.

"Hey, whose dog is that?" He approached the dog and patted its head. The puppy had soft, golden fur and floppy ears. And she couldn't seem to stop wagging her tail once she saw Leonard. She panted rapidly, licking Leonard's hand as he scratched her chin.

"It's yours!" Allison said cheerfully.

He looked up at his mother and sister incredulously. "It is?"

"Yes. Your father and sister convinced me to satisfy your never-ending plead for a puppy, so we went out and got you a rescue. You can thank your father when he gets back from work."

"Thanks Mother, thanks Allison!"

His mother walked off to another room in the house to work on one of her many papers as Leonard knelt down to get a good look at his new dog's face.

"So what are you going to name her?" Allison asked.

Leonard continued scratching the back of his puppy's ear and responded, "I think I'm going to name her…Mitzy."

* * *

><p>"Penny, can you go see who that is?" Penny's mom yelled after the doorbell rang.<p>

"Okay!" Penny ran to the door and peeked through the window. "It's Leonard!" She yelled back to her mother and opened the door. "Hi, Leonard!" Before Leonard could say hi back, she saw the puppy Leonard was holding and shrieked, "A puppy! Is it yours?"

"Yeah, it is! I just got her today!" He grinned.

Penny's mother approached from behind Penny and smiled at Leonard. "Hi there, Leonard."

"Hi, Mrs. Fisher. How are you doing?"

"I'm doing well, thank you. Is that your puppy?"

He nodded. "I just got her today."

"Well, isn't she the cutest thing?" She bent down to Leonard's height and scratched the puppy's head. "What's her name?"

"Mitzy."

"Oh, that's a cute name."

"Mommy, can I go play with her and Leonard?" Penny bounced up and down, tugging her mother's shirt.

"Sure. Just don't go too far, okay?"

"Okay!" She ran out of the house, Leonard following her from behind.

Leonard pulled out a leash from his pocket and latched it onto Mitzy's collar. Penny sat down on the sidewalk and kissed the top of Mitzy's head.

"I love dogs," Penny said. "We have three dogs, but they don't live with us anymore."

"Why not?" Leonard asked.

"Our house got too full. We gave them to my grandma to take care of them. But we go to Grandma's all the time, so I can still see them." She tilted her head and looked into the puppy's eyes. "Mitzy looks a lot like Booboo." She smiled happily.

* * *

><p>"But Mother—" Leonard attempted to get a word in, but as always, had no success.<p>

"Why are you protesting? There's no question about it. You don't deserve it."

"Why?"

"Do you really want the truth, Leonard?"

"I think I deserve at least that much."

"Very well. You're not good enough." She crossed her arms as her son ran off outside.

Leonard dejectedly sat on the grass, leaning against the side of the house. He was out of sight for the most part, which he liked. But he still closed his eyes, telling himself over and over to not cry.

Mitzy ran up to Leonard and snuggled her head under his hand. He looked down at her, her big brown eyes looking up at Leonard, silently asking him what was wrong.

He didn't care that he was crying now. Mitzy whined in response to his tears and licked his face.

"Why does she keep doing that?" He absentmindedly ran his hand over Mitzy's fur. "Actually, a better question would be, why does it still affect me?"

He hugged his puppy, holding her close to his chest.

"…Leonard?"

Leonard looked up in surprise. Penny was standing in front of him looking extremely worried. He quickly brushed away the remaining tears on his face, hoping that she hadn't seen him crying. But it was rather unlikely.

"H-hi Penny."

"Are you okay?"

"Um…I've been better." He looked down, so as to not show her the grief in his eyes.

Penny walked a little closer to Leonard and looked at him. "Why are you crying?"

Leonard was embarrassed for a second, but replied with, "Something my mother said to me. It's nothing."

"It doesn't seem like nothing." Her voice was almost at a whisper. "Something's wrong."

"No, nothing's wrong," he tried to reassure her.

She shook her head. "No, you're sad. That means something's wrong. Do you want to tell me?"

"Not really."

There was a pause between the two of them as Penny fell to her knees and leaned into Leonard, squeezing him into a hug. He was caught off-guard by her actions, but ended up awkwardly patting her on the back.

"Do you want to do something? Maybe we can make today a special day."

He shifted uncomfortably. "Well, today _is_ my birthday."

Penny audibly gasped. "Today's your birthday?" He nodded. "Then it _is_ a special day! You shouldn't be sad on your birthday! Are you having a party? Didya get presents yet?"

He looked down again. "Um, my parents don't celebrate my birthday. So, no. No party or presents."

"What?" Penny's mouth dropped. "That's not fair! It's your _birthday_!"

Leonard smiled at her, and was about to say something, but was cut off with his mother calling out, "Leonard! You haven't finished your work yet!"

He frowned, and Penny's smile went away. "I, uh, I have to go." Leonard went back into his house as Mitzy followed him. He stopped for a second to give Penny a small wave before disappearing.

She stood up and ran into her house when she got an idea. She ran through the house screaming, "Mommy, mommy, where are you?"

"I'm in the kitchen, sweetie," her mother called back.

"Mommy, today's Leonard's birthday!"

"It is? Oh, that's nice."

Penny crawled into a chair. "Yeah, but…he doesn't get a party or gifts or anything." She frowned.

Penny's mother looked at her daughter sympathetically and said, "Well, why don't we give him something?"

She perked up. "Can we? Can we?"

"Sure. We can bake a small cake for him and I'll take you out to buy him something."

"Yay!" She jumped off the chair and started gathering ingredients.

By five o'clock that evening, Leonard was left alone with his brother and sister again as his parents left for work. He sat alone on the couch, drawing circles and shapes on a scratch piece of paper. He was still thinking about what his mother said to him earlier that day.

He'd gotten used to not getting anything on his birthday, so he understood when all Allison gave him was a small hug and a "happy birthday, big guy." He knew that if she got him anything, their mother would probably yell at them both, and lecture them on the pointlessness of gift giving.

When there was a knock at the door, Leonard got up from his seat. He pulled the chair sitting next to the door right under the peephole and stood on it so he could see through it. When he saw Penny, he opened the door. She was smiling and holding a box and a wrapped present.

"Happy Birthday, Leonard!"

He blinked, unsure of how to respond. "Thank you?" came out of his mouth, and he stepped to the side to let her in.

"These are for you," she said as she handed him the things in her hands.

"Thank you," he said again.

He went over to the couch and opened the box. Inside sat a small chocolate cake with the words, "Happy Birthday" messily written on the top. He assumed that Penny was the one who wrote it.

"My mommy and me made it. I hope you like it!"

"Thank you, Penny. That's really nice of you to do. But you really didn't have to."

"I wanted to." She smiled at him. "Everyone deserves some cake on their birthday." Penny pushed his arm slightly. "Open the other one, open the other one!"

He put the cake to the side and held the wrapped present in his hand. It looked and felt like a book. Leonard carefully unwrapped the ribbon and the paper and sure enough, it was a book. He read the cover out loud.

"All About Constellations." He looked over at Penny, who was grinning wider than ever.

"Because you know so much about stars, I thought you would want to learn more."

"Thank you," he said for the fourth time.

He felt an unusual burst of happiness. He wasn't used to this.


	2. Chapter 2

Leonard and Penny ended up attending the same elementary school, middle school, and high school, albeit they were in different grades. Penny struggled noticeably more than Leonard did with academics, and Leonard struggled noticeably more than Penny did with athletics. Throughout their educational careers, they stayed best friends, one going over to the other person's house a few times a day. They would also sit together during lunch, when Leonard didn't have a debate to go to, or a meeting to attend. He was always busier than her, pursuing as many extracurricular activities as he could. The time that they didn't spend with each other during school hours, they would spend together when they walked home, or afterschool, when Penny, currently a freshman, would go over to the Hofstadter household to get tutoring from Leonard, who was a sophomore.

"So all you do is plug this number and this variable into your calculator, and you get your answer. And then simplify, if you need to."

"Is that all?" Leonard nodded. "Well that's not hard. I don't know why I can't get it when the teacher explains it." She smiled at him. "Thanks, Leonard."

"Sure, no problem."

Penny looked at Leonard, who had gone back to working on his own homework. She was hesitant to speak, because the topic she was going to bring up wasn't something that Leonard wanted to talk about. But she knew she had to.

She took a deep breath. "Hey, Leonard?"

"Mm-hmm?"

"Um, I know you probably don't want to talk about this, but—" Leonard looked up at her. "That school bully…"

"Penny."

"Just hear me out. I-I think you should tell the principal about him."

"Penny, I appreciate your concern, but he'd probably kill me if I did."

"Well, it's not like you're the only person he pushes around," she tried to reason with him.

"Okay then, he'd probably kill me and ten other people."

"Leonard…"

"Seriously, Penny, you don't have to worry about it. I'm fine. I can deal with it. It's not the first time I've been beat up or picked on by the school bully."

"But I can't just look and watch him push you around!" Penny protested.

"Well then, don't look," he shrugged and continued writing.

"Leonard!" She slapped his arm, causing him to drop his pen.

"Ow! What?" Leonard rubbed his arm. She glared at him and crossed her arms. He could tell that she was dead serious, so he sighed. "Okay look, I would love nothing more than to tell someone about him so the bullying can stop. But I'm not a coward. And I sure hope _you_ don't think I'm a cowardly tattle-tale."

Penny knew she was defeated after he said that. She sighed, "All right, fine. But don't think I'm going to stop worrying about you."

"I won't. I know you'd probably kill me if I did." He grinned at her teasingly.

* * *

><p>Leonard tried to avoid eye contact as he walked quickly toward the cafeteria. Nevertheless, he still heard, "Give me your money, punk," behind him.<p>

He knew it probably wasn't the best thing to do, but he continued walking, acting as if he didn't hear him. It only resulted in him being shoved around and louder yelling.

"I _said_, give me your money, nerd."

"Sorry, I was planning on using it."

"Don't get smart with me, four-eyes." He grabbed Leonard by his hood and tossed him to the ground.

Penny had just walked into the cafeteria when she saw what was happening. She opened her chocolate milk carton and quickly walked over to Leonard. She stood on the bench behind the bully and poured milk over his head.

"Hey! What the hell?" His yelling caught everyone's attention, and the entire room erupted in laughter.

"Oops! Sorry about that." Penny said.

He sneered at her and ran out of the room. Penny jumped off the bench and held out her hand to help Leonard up.

"Thanks, Penny. You didn't have to do that, though."

She shrugged. "I wanted to. It was kinda fun, anyway."

* * *

><p>Penny sighed in exhaustion and flopped down onto her bed. She didn't feel like sitting up and taking off her shoes, so she kicked them off and they flew to the opposite side of the room. She turned her head to the side to check the time. Her eye caught a picture frame that sat to the right of her alarm clock.<p>

It was a picture of her and Leonard. Leonard had given it to her on her birthday one year. The frame had flowers and butterflies, and the top of the frame read, "Best Friends." It still made her smile every time she looked it. Leonard was holding Penny so close, their cheeks were touching. Penny could see Leonard was blushing slightly. She'd learned very quickly that he was extremely shy around girls, even Penny, who he'd been friends with for years. Whenever he told her about some girl at school that he found, to use his words, "sort of nice," he was far too shy to talk to her. Penny had tried to "train" him by making him practice on her, but he was still hopelessly shy and awkward.

She had just gotten up and flipped off the light when she heard a tapping at her window. She walked over and opened it when she saw Leonard waving at her.

"Hey, Leonard." She grabbed his hand and helped him inside. "What are you doing here?"

"Look." He pointed out her window.

"What?"

"The night sky's perfect tonight. There are no clouds in sight. Come here." He brought her to the window and took her hand. He put her finger on Sirius and drew out a constellation.

Her hand dropped to her lap, and she tilted her head as she tried to figure out what he was showing her. "What's that?"

"It's Canis Major. The dog in the sky. I know it took a while, but I promised I would show it to you one day."

Penny looked at Leonard, the moon illuminating both their faces in the dark environment. "You remembered?" She smiled. "That was like six years ago."

"Well, I don't have any kind of photographic memory, but I can remember a few special things."

Penny wrapped her hand around his arm. "You're really awesome."

* * *

><p>Penny stood at the corner of the sidewalk, leaning on the pole of the streetlight. She was waiting for Leonard to meet her so they could walk home together, like they did everyday. The routine had started when they were quite young, when Penny told Leonard that she was kind of afraid to walk home by herself. He'd told her then that he would walk with her and protect her.<p>

Leonard walked toward the sidewalk, his backpack slung over his left shoulder, and his right hand carrying books. Penny smiled when she saw him approaching.

"Leonard! Guess what?"

"What?"

She pulled out a small bouquet of red roses from her backpack and showed them to Leonard. He raised his eyebrows at her in confusion and pointed at the roses. "These aren't for me, are they?"

She giggled and punched his arm. "No, silly." They began to walk away from the school. "I got asked to winter formal!"

Leonard was caught slightly off-guard, even though he should have expected something like this to happen eventually.

"Oh, that—that's nice. By who?"

"By Jeremy Morgan." She smiled and held the flowers up to her nose to smell them.

Leonard nodded slowly. "He's a nice guy."

"He is. Are you going to ask anyone?"

"Huh? Oh, uh…no. I have a tournament that night."

"Oh, that's right. I forgot." She frowned slightly. "Aw, I wish you could come too! It'd be so much fun! And I'd probably feel more comfortable if you were there."

"I'm sure you'll be fine," he reassured her.

"Yeah, I guess. I'm not big on this whole independence thing. You know that." There was a silent pause between the two of them as they arrived home. "So, you wanna hang out a little?"

"Uh, actually, my sister was supposed to drop by today, so I was planning on spending some time with her."

"Oh, okay. We can hang out another time, then. See you later! Tell your sister hi for me!"

"Will do."

* * *

><p>Leonard walked into his room and found his sister sitting on his bed, waiting for him.<p>

"Hey, Leonard."

"Hi, Ally." Leonard gave his sister a quick hug. He sat down next to her.

"So, what's new with _Leonard and Penny_?" She winked at him.

"Stop saying it like that. And stop winking at me!"

"Fine. Spoilsport." She squeezed his shoulder teasingly. "Anyway, last time we talked, you said she stood up for you against that school bully. So anything new happen since then?"

"Well, she just told me today that she got asked to the winter formal dance." Allison tilted her head and concentrated on Leonard's face. "It shouldn't bother me, but…I don't know. It kinda does. Maybe I've become that overprotective friend type." He shrugged. "I guess it'll pass."

Allison didn't bother being subtle. "Or maybe you have a crush on her."

"What?" Leonard scoffed. "On Penny? Uh, ha, yeah. I don't think so. I mean, we've been friends for over six years."

She nudged his arm. "Oh come on, you can't deny that she's pretty attractive."

"I-I'm not denying that. I'm just denying the possibility that I might have a…crush on her. That's all." Allison raised her eyebrows at him. He glared at her. "Can we stop talking about this now? Weren't you going to take me to dinner or something?"

"It's three o'clock, Leonard."

"Well, fine, how about a snack?"

"Leonard…"

"I'm not gonna talk about Penny anymore. So either you take me out somewhere, or we sit here in silence until dinner." Leonard crossed his arms.

"O-_kay_," Allison replied in a singsong voice. "Let's go get some take-out, then." When she pinched Leonard's cheek, he slapped her hand away in protest.

* * *

><p>Penny felt nervous for Leonard, but she had no idea why. Leonard had gone off to take his driving test, and she wished him good luck about fifteen times before he left. She sat in her room, twiddling her thumbs and staring out the window, waiting for him to come back. She absentmindedly stared at the sky, estimating where certain constellations were. She'd lay awake most nights, staring out of the window, picturing the dog and bear and person in the sky.<p>

The sound of a car pulling up snapped her out of her daydream and she rushed downstairs when she saw it was Leonard's car.

She excitedly ran up to him, asking, "Did ya pass? Did ya pass?" But she stopped when he walked up to her, a dejected look on his face. "Aww, Leonard." She leaned in to hug him, when he suddenly broke out in a smile.

"I passed!"

"Wha—Leonard!" Penny slapped his arm.

"I had you going, didn't I?" Leonard smiled.

"You suck," she responded teasingly.

"I know, I do." He held up a piece of paper from the driving test. "The judge said that I was one of the safest drivers she's ever tested!"

"That's awesome! You need to teach me how to drive, then." Penny smiled and gave his hand a squeeze.

* * *

><p>A couple weeks had passed by, as winter formal approached closer and closer. Penny had picked out a dress with her mother, immediately trying it on and showing Leonard as soon as she got home.<p>

"What do you think?" She spun around in front of him.

A suddenly breathless Leonard replied, "You look amazing."

The night before winter formal, Leonard was scheduled to attend a pre-tournament meeting down in another city. His mother let him drive himself, as she trusted that he would drive safely and carefully, which he did end up doing. Leonard wished that Penny would come with him, because it was an hour-long drive, but it was much too late at night, and he didn't want to bother her.

Penny in her dress and the upcoming dance stayed on his mind throughout the meeting, and Leonard's teammates had to constantly snap him out of his reveries. After the third time they told him to concentrate, he figured he'd better let it go, or he's not going to do so well the following night. So he did, as difficult as it was.

Penny woke up the day of the dance with a big smile on her face, ecstatic about the upcoming night. She walked to school alone that morning, because Leonard told her that he was supposed to leave for school earlier than they usually did to attend one last meeting with his tournament buddies. She was slightly gloomy about it, since they always walk together, but figured she could make up that lost time with him at school.

She walked into her first period and sat down in the front row, saving a seat next to her for Leonard. She was surprised she'd come before him, since he usually comes to class before her. But when the bell rang, and he still wasn't in his seat, she looked around the class, to see if he was sitting somewhere else. When the teacher called attendance, and passed by Leonard's name with no response from him, she assumed that he was running late for some reason.

The class started, and Penny couldn't stop glancing over at Leonard's seat. As more and more time passed by, and she went to her second, third, fourth period, she got increasingly worried. Leonard never missed a school day, even if he was physically ill.

Afterschool, she waited at the sidewalk, by the pole, until there was almost no one left at school. He never came. Penny ended up walking home alone, now feeling sick to her stomach. Halfway to her destination, she ran home, as fast as she could, to see where Leonard was.

She went into her house with a fast, "Hi mom, hi dad," dropped off her backpack, and was about to run next door, until her parents stopped her.

"Penny, hang on a second!"

"What is it? I have to go next door, Leonard wasn't at school today."

"Yeah, that's what we want to talk to you about." Penny's heart pounded as she assumed the worst. "Leonard got into a car accident last night. His parents called us to let you know."

Penny wanted to scream _What? Is he okay?_ But nothing came out of her mouth. Her parents saw the fear in her eyes, and immediately tried to reassure her.

"But they said he's doing okay. He's not badly injured or anything—" her father quickly added.

"Where is he?" Penny practically screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Still in the hospital. I'll take you there." Her mother grabbed her car keys and led Penny out the door.

Penny felt that the ten-minute drive to the hospital was the longest drive of her life. Even though her mother next to her kept telling her that he was fine, she was still worried sick. She tried to hold back her tears, but a lump soon formed in her throat and her stomach, and she felt worse than before. Defeated, she let a few tears fall, but wiped them away quickly with the back of her sleeve. She wanted to be strong, for Leonard, but it wasn't working out too well.

"Penny…"

"I'm fine, mom. Just get me to the hospital," she unintentionally snapped.

"But Penny, I just want to make you feel better. Trust me, he's _fine._"

She sniffled. "I'll know that when I see him."

Penny leaped out of the car when they arrived and ran into the hospital. When the nurse directed her to Leonard's room, she ran toward it, wanting to scream his name. But she stayed quiet, because she didn't want to scare him.

Penny stood outside his door and knocked gently. She heard Leonard say, "Come in?" And she entered.

"Oh. Penny. Hi."

"Hi Leonard." Her voice was shaky, and she tried to blink away tears.

He was sitting up in bed, his left arm in a cast, and a few scratches on his face. He didn't talk very loudly, he didn't move very much, and his face appeared beyond tired.

In reality, he wasn't that badly injured. But to Penny, seeing her best friend lie helplessly in a hospital bed was like the end of the world.

"Uh, sorry I wasn't at school today." Penny let a few tears fall, which made Leonard worried. "Wh—why are you crying? Don't cry. Please don't cry. Look, I'm fine!" He smiled at her, which only made her cry harder. "Penny…please, I don't like it when you cry."

She sniffled and wiped away tears. "I know. I was just so scared."

"I'm sorry I scared you…but really, I'm fine. Heck, I could probably get out of this place by today!" Penny shook her head and smiled. "Okay, not really. But I feel like I could!"

Penny pulled a chair next to the bed and held Leonard's uninjured arm. "Th-the doctor told me that you were hit by someone who ran a red light." Leonard nodded. "And that you broke your arm and a couple ribs, a-and you went into shock."

"Oh. He told you all of that?" Leonard wished she hadn't known so much, since it meant that Penny would be even more worried than he wanted her to be.

She nodded. "And then I asked him what shock meant, and he said that all I really needed to know is that it was caused by the accident and that you'd be in a lot of pain and kinda out of it." Leonard nodded slowly in response. "So you're not really as fine as you say you are…are you?"

"Well, sort of. Shock only lasts for a few days in most cases, and I'm already feeling better than I was when I got here…so there's no need to worry."

Penny stroked his arm and stared into his eyes as they talked for the next few hours. When Leonard finally glanced at the clock, it was seven o'clock in the evening.

"Wait, Penny, isn't tonight winter formal?"

"Oh, yeah…it is."

There was a short silence before Leonard spoke again. He blinked at her. "…Aren't you supposed to be there?"

She shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."

"Then what are you still sitting here for?"

"I'd rather stay with you."

* * *

><p>Another day passed by, and Leonard was still sitting in the same hospital bed. <em>We just need to monitor you for a bit<em>, the doctor said. He was getting bored flipping through channels to the television that was sitting in front of him, which he'd been doing for the past three hours. Penny was still at school, and wouldn't be back for another hour. She'd told him about how Jeremy responded when she didn't show up at winter formal.

"He was pretty pissed when he first saw me, but when I told him about what happened, he seemed okay with it." Penny nodded. "I mean, he still wasn't happy that I kinda stood him up, but he wasn't furious or anything."

The rest of his family was busy doing their own thing as well, work and school. Leonard wished he were sitting in sixth period chemistry instead of watching nurses walk in and out of his room, constantly asking him how he felt and adjusting his bandages and giving him food and water.

Leonard clicked the channel changer on the remote a few more times before settling on a show that was talking about computers. He'd just dozed off when Penny swooped into the room with a, "Hello there, Leonard!"

It startled him awake, and his movements caused him to clutch his stomach painfully. He tried to blow off the pain as nothing, but wasn't very successful.

"H-hii-ii, Penny."

She rushed over to his side. "Oh god, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you. I thought you were awake."

"No, no. It's fine. I'm fine." He smiled. "So what's up?"

"Um, well, I got your homework."

"Oh, thanks! Finally I have something productive to do in here. I was getting sick of TV."

Penny sat her backpack on the bed and opened it. "And I got you this." She pulled out a white teddy bear that was holding a heart and sat it next to Leonard.

"Oh, th-that's really sweet of you." He held the bear in his right hand and squeezed it slightly. Sewed into the heart were the words _Get Well Soon_. "Thanks, Penny."

Once he was finally out of the hospital, Penny was over at the Hofstadter house almost 24/7, taking care of Leonard while his parents were too busy to even look at him.

"Here you go, Leonard." She handed him a glass of water.

"Thanks, Penny." He took a sip of water. "And thanks for staying with me and helping me with…" He lifted his cast. "You know."

"It's no problem." Penny sat in a more comfortable position on Leonard's bed. "Hey, Leonard…have you ever broken a bone before? Or got really injured?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Um, yeah. I broke my collarbone once when I was pretty young. Why do you ask?"

"Did your parents help you out when you did?" Leonard realized where this was going and bit his lip and looked down at his cup of water. "I mean, did they take care of you?"

"Well, to be completely honest, no." Penny's eyes got sadder. "But it's never really been a big deal to me. They're not the most caring parents in the world, if you haven't noticed," he chuckled.

Penny had a million more questions to ask Leonard, like, _what is their problem?_ Or _how did someone so sweet like you end up with them?_ But she tried to avoid the topic in fear of possibly offending him, and instead sat closer to Leonard and hugged him.

* * *

><p>Leonard continued to excel in his studies while Penny was only grasping onto "slightly above average," thanks to Leonard's tutoring. Much to Leonard's surprise, but much to Penny's expectations, he had a chance to graduate early.<p>

Penny congratulated him, excitedly bouncing up and down when he told her that he could skip a year and a half of high school. When he was accepted to one of the most prestigious universities in the nation, Penny continued to shower him with excitement and hugs.

"I never expected less of you," she told him one day. He could only blush modestly.

His first year in college, he stayed at home, because he wasn't ready to leave Penny yet, and Penny told him she wasn't ready to live without him. But once his schedule got busier and busier, he was forced to live in a dorm at school, which meant that he would always be at least an hour away from Penny. Two years after Leonard graduated, Penny was finally a senior at her high school, and Leonard was a junior in college.

"Hey, Penny," one of her friends called out.

"Hey, Sara."

Penny sat alone, in a corner of the school, playing with her lunch instead of eating it. She'd been much more gloomy ever since Leonard left, and it showed. Her persistent misery was reflected in her studies and social interactions. She tried to distract herself with whatever she could find, but it never worked. She would always call him to chat, but it wasn't the same as seeing him.

"You okay?" Sara sat down next to Penny.

Penny shrugged. "I don't know why I miss him so much. I mean, I still talk to him all the time. I can visit him over the weekends. But it's just not the same. It's like I need to see his face all the time. …Is that weird?"

"Not really. Not if you're really into the guy."

Penny looked up at her friend. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. Maybe you're…attracted to him."

She laughed uncomfortably and shook her head. "No. Really? No…I mean he's my best friend, but he's not really my type. Is he?"

Sara raised an eyebrow at her and smiled. "Oh come on, Penny. Do you really _have_ a type?"

She shook her head. "I guess not. But…we've been friends since forever. I've never thought of him as a possible…boyfriend."

* * *

><p>Leonard sat on his bed, pen in mouth, book open on his lap, one hand tapping the page. He sighed in exhaustion, he'd already overworked his brain and it was only seven in the evening.<p>

He closed his eyes, took the pen out of his mouth, and mumbled, "Stupid particles refusing to cooperate with me."

He unintentionally fell asleep in the same position, his head leaning against the wall behind him, his legs crossed underneath his books. Leonard was so exhausted, he didn't hear the knock at his door.

The unlocked door slowly opened, and Penny poked her head in the doorway. "Leonard?" she whispered. "Are you in here?"

She surveyed the room and found Leonard asleep on his bed. She nearly laughed out loud when she saw him dozed off, his mouth open. Penny tiptoed into the room and gently closed the door behind her.

She didn't want to scare him, but she couldn't resist sitting directly in front of him on his bed and calling out, "Hey, Leonard!" He opened his eyes slowly, and saw her staring at him. He screamed and threw his pen in the air, which flew to another part of his room. Penny doubled over in laughter as an out-of-breath Leonard tried to recover from her scare.

"What did you do that for?" He was initially irritated, but started laughing after seeing Penny in her fit of laughter.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. You looked so cute sleeping like that." She grinned, and only became aware of what she said a few seconds later. As for Leonard, everything went right over his head.

"Well, you're gonna kill me one day if you keep scaring me like that." Penny giggled. "What are you doing here? You usually don't come on the weekdays."

"I know, but I wanted to see you." She twisted her sleeve in her hand. "I miss you."

"Yeah, I miss you too, Penny."

Her eyes and smile brightened as they stared at each other for a good thirty seconds. Leonard was the first to break the silence.

"Uh, so—hey." He checked his watch. "It's seven o'clock, have you had anything to eat yet?" She shook her head. "All right then, let's go and grab some dinner."

They went to the campus restaurant and ordered the same meal. They sat down across from each other at a table in the corner of the restaurant. There weren't many people around, so they didn't have to worry about not having a peaceful dinner.

"So, what's been going on at school? Anything exciting?" Leonard asked as he munched on a carrot from his salad.

"Mm, well, not really. It's been pretty boring at school, especially without you."

"I'm sure it hasn't been _that_ boring."

Penny looked up to the ceiling, thinking. "No, it's been pretty boring." He laughed and smiled at her. "I wish you didn't have to leave."

"Me too."

Penny looked into Leonard's eyes. They were kind, and welcoming, and could probably melt your heart if you stared into them long enough. She noticed that her own heart seemed to beat just a couple steps faster than it usually did when she was around him, and it scared her, because she didn't know why. But she wasn't sure if she _wanted_ to know why, either.

* * *

><p>When Penny got back home, she lay in bed, in complete darkness, staring at the ceiling. She turned her head, picked up the picture of her and Leonard off her nightstand, and began staring at that instead. As the moonlight shined through her window, she could see the photo clearly. It was taken a few years ago, but neither of them had changed very much. Leonard still had his big, carefree grin, and Penny had her sweet, content smile.<p>

She sighed as she laid the picture against her chest._ A crush? Really? It can't be. At least, I don't think so._

When she started to think about all that they had gone through together, Penny began to see how different Leonard was from all the other guys that she knew. He really stood out, and not in a good or bad way. Just in a different way. He was genuinely sweeter and kinder. But also more stoic, in the way that he never seemed to show his pain or suffering, and therefore never seemed to complain about anything, even though she knew he went through so much.


	3. Chapter 3

Leonard sat in his physics lecture, listening to the professor drawl on about stuff he'd already learned when he was twelve. He opened up his notebook, tuned out his professor, and wrote at the top, _To-do List_. Halfway through his list, however, he got distracted and began drawing little scribbles and lines at the bottom of his notebook. He started thinking about Penny and hadn't heard the professor call on Leonard to answer a question.

"Leonard. Leonard!"

He finally snapped out of his daydream with, "Ah! What? Huh? Sorry."

"Are you all right?"

"Uh, I'm fine. I-I was just thinking about something," he stuttered.

The professor raised an eyebrow. "Must've been something important. But please concentrate, Mr. Hofstadter."

"Sorry."

* * *

><p>Friday morning, Penny walked to school, thinking about the night a couple days ago, and about how she felt something different while she was with Leonard. She was reluctant to call it an attraction, because she kept denying Sara's crazy notion that she had a crush on her best friend. She walked into her first period, shaking her head and smiling as she continued thinking about the same thing.<p>

Halfway through the class, while all the students were quietly working on an assignment, the teacher walked up to Penny and dropped a note on her desk. She looked at it, and slowly looked up at her teacher, fearing that it was a bad note. But her teacher only smiled at her, turned around, and left, which thoroughly confused Penny.

She hesitantly opened the note, and read it.

_I probably scared you with the note. I hope you don't mind. But if you can make it through today, then I'll make it up to you._

_I know you go here after every class,_

_So this should be simple to pass._

_Open it: thirty-nine, five, twenty-two,_

_And you will find your next clue._

_P.S. I swear I'm not a stalker._

Penny couldn't help but giggle at the last part of the note, but she had to admit that it was kind of creepy that this person knew her locker combination.

She shortly realized that it was probably the rumored prom stunt she heard about. One of her friends spilled to her that one of the football players was seriously eyeing her as a prom date and was planning some scheme like this. She quietly groaned, because in all honesty, she didn't want to go with him. She didn't want to go with _anyone_, as a matter of fact. Even though it was her senior prom, she just wasn't in the mood. Not since Leonard left. Penny was already planning out how she would say no to him. In fact, she was considering not showing up to where he was waiting, wherever he might be, but she figured that might be a little too cruel.

When the bell rang, she went to her locker and opened it, only to find a small teddy bear holding what was probably her next clue. She rushed to her next class and opened it.

_Oh, good. You found it. Don't worry, I didn't think you wouldn't._

_Third period biology is up next for you._

_I know you'd rather have something else to do._

_I'm not suggesting you should skip,_

_But I can still send you on a little trip._

_Forward three, left two, forward four._

_Look under, and you will find more._

She started thinking about what he meant. She spent the whole class coming up with what she can "look under" in a classroom. Once the answer came to her, she realized it was pretty obvious and quietly slapped her forehead.

Penny's third period was right next door, so she didn't have to worry about someone else finding her little "surprise" first. She walked in and followed the directions. Walking over to one particular desk, she looked under, and found a single rose and another clue taped to the bottom of it. Penny twirled the rose between her fingers. This guy was sweeter than she thought he was. She didn't expect something so charming and elaborate from some quarterback jock.

_I'll give you a little something to do this period and the next._

_Figure out this simple puzzle, and you will see a destination in text._

_Go there during lunch, and you'll find something more._

_A little something for you, and perhaps another "chore."_

_20-8-5_

_18-5-4_

_2-5-14-3-8_

_9-14_

_20-8-5_

_17-21-1-4_

Penny started writing out the first, most simple code that came to mind and spent almost the entire class time half decoding his message and half listening to her teacher. She stuffed the paper in her pocket when she was done and waited for lunchtime to arrive.

She didn't bother getting her lunch, Penny just headed straight to the one red bench that sat in the middle of the quad. After walking around, surveying it, she found something shining in the sunlight. It was a heart-shaped locket. When she opened it, there was another note, very tightly folded up.

_You're almost there. Only two more classes to get through. I won't make you solve anymore riddles. Just finish the day, and I'll be there._

The only thing that ran through Penny's mind was, _Crap, now everyone's going to see him asking me. I can't say no. But I don't want to say yes._

Penny nervously tapped her pen against her leg for the next two classes. She knew it was coming, and wished that she could just crawl away and not have to deal with it. But she refused to be a coward. She knew Leonard would have told her to go through with it, no matter the consequences.

She began biting her pen as the clock continued ticking away. She was so much in another universe that when someone knocked on the door and the teacher asked Penny to open it because she was sitting next to it, she didn't hear him.

"Penny. _Penny_. Penny!"

She finally snapped out of it and dropped her pen onto her desk. "Yes? I'm sorry."

He looked at her sternly. "Would you get the door, please?"

"Oh. Sure."

She got up and opened it. But she certainly did not expect to see the person who was standing at the door.

"Oh. My. God."

Her surprised reaction got the entire class interested, and they leaned over to see who was at the door.

"Hi, Penny."

Leonard was standing at the door, a bouquet of flowers in his hand. He was dressed neatly in a suit and tie. His hair was slightly slicked back, and he had a happy, but somewhat nervous grin on his face. He was holding a bunch of roses in his hand, which he quickly handed to her.

She took the roses, but her jaw was still hanging. Nevertheless, she managed to choke out, "Leonard? Wh-what are you doing here?"

Now the entire class had gathered behind Penny, as the teacher leaned against his desk and smiled.

"Um, well, I'm not really good at this whole thing. Because I've never done it before." He shrugged and chuckled. "So I guess I'll just say it. Penny, will you go to prom with me?"

The class aww'd in unison and Penny's dropped jaw slowly formed into a huge grin. She started tearing up from the sheer happiness and excitement.

Leonard hadn't expected Penny to scream "yes" and pounce on him, so when she did, he yelped and fell backward onto the ground. She hugged him as tight as she could. Once Penny got some of the excitement out of her, she helped Leonard up from the ground. But she couldn't help hugging him one more time before he left to wait for her.

When she got out of class, he was standing on the sidewalk at the side of the school, waiting to walk her home. Penny was still beaming and holding the bouquet in her hands. She took Leonard's arm as they started to walk home.

"That was really sweet of you, Leonard."

"Aw, well, I'm glad you liked it. I hope the riddles weren't too hard to solve."

Penny giggled and held him closer. "No, they were perfect."

"Oh, good."

"I knew I was being asked to prom, but I can't tell you how glad I am to find out that it was you!"

He looked at her, slightly confused. "What does that mean? Who else was gonna ask you?"

"It's not important," she grinned. "You look really good in that suit."

"Oh. Heh. Thanks." Leonard turned bright red, making Penny giggle.

Penny had a smile plastered on her face for the rest of the day. Her parents were more than ecstatic when they heard, and Leonard's parents were…the way they always were. Leonard called his sister to let him know that he asked her.

She squealed over the phone, "_Finally!_ It's about time you guys went on a date!"

Leonard was still in a little bit of denial and attempted to refute her claim. "It's not a _date_, Ally."

She giggled. "Right. That's why you're her prom _date_."

He sighed. "Fine. Call it whatever you want, we're just going to prom together."

Allison scoffed. "Hell, prom is even more romantic than a date!"

"Ally! Stop it!"

* * *

><p>Leonard and Penny went to find a dress and a suit together, since Penny insisted that they match. Leonard didn't get why, but assumed it was a girl thing.<p>

"So what color do you want to match in?" Penny asked while in the car.

Leonard shrugged. "I dunno. Whatever you want."

Penny rubbed her chin in thought. "Hmm. How about a cool dark blue?"

"That sounds ni—"

"No, there's gonna be a lot of people wearing blue." She shook her head. "And I want us to stand out." Penny flashed a grin at Leonard, who smiled back at her. "What's a good color that stands out?"

"Well, okay. How about—"

Penny gasped. "What about _gold_? That would be so pretty!"

Leonard nodded, smiling. He paused before speaking, in case she had something else to say. "Gold is a very nice color."

"It _is_, isn't it?" Penny became giddy as she imagined what her dress would look like. She wanted it to be perfect, since she would only be going to a senior prom with Leonard once in her life.

Once Leonard stopped the car, he asked the question that had been bugging him for a while.

"So…how are we going to match? I'm not getting a gold suit, am I?"

Penny cracked up, holding Leonard's arm in her hand. He blinked her, confused.

"No, Leonard! We're gonna get you a gold tie. And if we can find one, a gold vest." Leonard had an oh-I-see-now look on his face. "Besides, I doubt we would be able to find a gold suit someplace other than a costume store."

"Yeah, good point."

They entered a store to get Leonard's suit. He walked around with his hands in his pockets while Penny looked around and asked someone for help. She told them his size, and they went to the back of the store to find something. Penny walked to where Leonard was sitting and sat down next to him.

"You know," Leonard turned to her. "I don't think there's going to be a whole lot in my size."

She gave him a look that he recognized far too often. "Leonard, stop it. You're not _that_ short."

"Really?" Leonard said sarcastically. "Then there must be another reason why everyone calls me 'shorty.'"

She lightly slapped his arm. "Stop it!"

Leonard laughed, and before the conversation could continue, the person helping them showed up with some suits.

They spent a good half hour deciding which would look best on Leonard, and after purchasing it, they were off to a dress store for Penny.

When Penny requested that they see all of the store's gold dresses, they were practically sitting in a pile of gold cloth. Leonard would hand one dress to Penny for her to try on. She would walk out and twirl around, asking him how it looked. Nine times out of ten, Leonard would tell her that it looked amazing. He wasn't lying, she looked amazing in all of them, but Penny thought he was just being nice. Once they got near the end of the pile, Leonard was almost half asleep, but Penny was still just as perky as she was three hours ago.

Penny walked out with a semi-short dress, revealing her perfect legs and arms. Leonard sat up and stared at her. He gave her a once-over about three or four times.

"So? What do you think?" She put her hands on her hips and smiled.

"Th-that looks…you look…incredible."

Penny could tell when he was being serious, and she knew he was being _very_ serious.

"Well, I guess this is the one!"

He was still in a daze. "Yeah. Yeah…sure. Okay."

Penny giggled as she dragged him toward the cashier.

* * *

><p>The next several days, waiting for prom, were some of the longest days for Penny. Leonard had gone back to his dorm, so she was forced to not see him for a few days. Still, he was always on her mind, and she was always thinking about her relationship with him. Her friends were constantly talking to her about how her relationship could become a <em>relationship<em>. Penny was still uncomfortable talking about it, but she was eventually warming up to the idea.

She began to imagine what life would be like if she were _Leonard's girlfriend_. She thought about all the things that Leonard had done for her and with her while they were just friends. She thought that Leonard was already a perfect boyfriend, without actually being anyone's boyfriend.

* * *

><p>The day before prom, Leonard was able to come back home. His classes were over, so he could spend the entire day with Penny. They mostly talked, catching each other up with everything that was going on. Penny told him numerous times that she missed him, and each time, he responded with, "I missed you too."<p>

That night, Leonard was over at Penny's. With the light off, they looked up at the stars, Leonard pointing out other constellations, some new and some old. Penny still enjoyed hearing about the old ones because he always added some new, fascinating detail to it.

When Leonard ran out of constellations to point out in the small view of the window, there was a silence. All they could hear were crickets chirping, the wind blowing, and Penny's clock ticking. Penny turned to look at Leonard. When he noticed that her eyes were on him, he slowly turned his head. She kept staring into his eyes, making Leonard blush. Thankfully, she couldn't see it, since the two of them were only illuminated by the dim moonlight.

But now he could feel her breath on his cheek. His heart pounded faster, and Penny leaned in a little closer. Penny wondered for a second if Leonard's heart was racing as fast as hers. She stopped about an inch from his face and continued to look at him, while Leonard's eyes had dropped to the floor beneath them. Without thinking, Penny gently laid her hand on his leg.

She didn't want to scare him, so she said, "The stars are really pretty tonight."

Leonard took a sharp breath and added, "Yeah. They are." He gulped silently and tried to fill the intimidating silence. "Did you know…that t-the stars up there that we're, you know, seeing…some of them aren't there a-anymore? Because…light…it takes light a long…long time to travel down to Earth. By then, a few of those stars…w-would…be gone."

Penny still didn't take her eyes away from Leonard. "I didn't know that. I always learn something new when I'm with you, Leonard." She smiled.

He could still feel her hot breath on his cheek, and was still hesitant to look up at her. But it wasn't long before the nervous, semi-romantic setting was broken.

"Penny!" Her mother called from downstairs. "It's time for bed! What are you doing?"

"I'm looking at the stars with Leonard!" She took her hand off his leg and flipped on the light.

"Don't stay up so late! You have prom tomorrow, and all!"

"Kay, Mom!" She turned back to Leonard. "Um, well. I guess that means I'll see you tomorrow."

Leonard was wide-eyed, blinking. "Uh, yeah!" He cleared this throat and stood up. "I-I'll see you then."

They departed with a hug, and Leonard went downstairs to leave. He said his farewell to both her parents and they returned the same.

Leonard quickly went to bed, but didn't fall asleep yet. He stared at the ceiling and replayed what just happened ten minutes ago over and over in his head. He couldn't seem to deny it anymore. It was a crush.

Penny picked up her phone and texted her friend after Leonard left.

_Yeah, I'm definitely attracted to him._

She replied with, _I knew it._

* * *

><p>The day of prom, Penny woke up bright and early, excited for the day's events. She didn't know what they were going to do, but Leonard told her that he had a few things planned for them. She got dressed in a shirt and jeans and ran next door.<p>

Leonard's parents weren't home, which was typical, but his brother was. Michael let her in and told her that Leonard was still upstairs.

She knocked on his door, and when she got no answer from him, she quietly let herself in. Leonard was still asleep, sprawled out across his bed. She didn't want to scare him again, so she shook him awake. He mumbled something incoherent and opened his eyes. All he saw was someone with blonde hair tied back into a ponytail. He squinted confusedly, which made Penny smile.

"Penny?"

"Good morning!"

"Wha—what time is it?" He turned to look at his clock. He knew it must have been early, since his alarm hadn't even gone off yet. "It's 5 AM! Why are you up so early?"

Penny sat down next to him on the bed.

"I couldn't sleep. I'm so excited about today!"

"Oh. Well, me too." He smiled at her. "But I'm still tired, so good night." He rolled over and threw the covers over his head.

"Leonard! Don't leave me hanging!"

"You can stay here, I'm just gonna sleep until my alarm rings at a sane time."

She protested with a groan and proceeded to smack him lightly with one of his pillows.

"Ow," he said in a deadpan voice. "I can't sleep if you hit me."

"Good." Penny continued smacking him with the pillow.

"_Pen-ny,_" He groaned, but she continued to hit him. "Okay, okay! I'm up, I'm up!" Penny giggled as he rolled off the bed.

He got changed as she played around with the things on his nightstand. She always loved looking at all the physics, sciency stuff around his room. Although she didn't know too much about them, she could always ask Leonard, and he would enthusiastically explain it to her.

A few minutes later, Leonard reentered his room, wearing what he always did. His converse, corduroy pants, a sciency t-shirt, and a hoodie. She always overheard the girls at school say that he looks so geeky and plain with those clothes. But she saw nothing wrong with them. It was who he was, and she didn't want to change him. He didn't need to be changed.

"You ready?"

Penny nodded and they both got into Leonard's car.

Leonard first took Penny out for breakfast. He actually hadn't planned breakfast, but since she woke him up so early, he thought he might as well get her something to eat. He remembered one little breakfast place he went to a few years ago with his sister and drove her there. They both ordered the same thing, like they almost always did.

He munched on his bacon and eggs and gulped down half of his glass of orange juice.

"Wow, you sure are hungry," Penny teased.

"What?" Leonard asked with a mouthful of pancake. "This stuff is good."

She softly giggled. "Yeah, it is. So are you excited for tonight?"

He nodded, his mouth still full with food. Once he washed it down with more orange juice, he said, "Of course I'm excited." He paused for a second. "It's not weird that you're going to prom with a junior in college, is it?"

She popped another forkful of eggs in her mouth. "Well, you're only a year older than me. You just seem older because you're a 'junior in college.'" Penny grinned. "Though I have to admit, when people asked me who my prom date was, and I said that you were a junior in college, they were totally weirded out. Until I told them that you were just really smart and graduated early." She grinned proudly.

"You tell everyone that I'm 'really smart?'" Leonard blushed.

"Of course!" she chirped.

"Aw, you don't have to tell people that." Leonard looked back down at his plate and started poking at his eggs, embarrassed.

"Why not? It's true."

"Not necessarily."

"I swear, I'm gonna slap you for being so modest."

* * *

><p>Leonard drove Penny back home an hour before they were supposed to leave for prom. She went inside to get ready with her mother, and she refused to let Leonard in. He didn't know why, but assumed again that it was some girl thing.<p>

Allison was home when Leonard came in, and she was smiling from the moment he walked in.

"What?"

She shrugged. "Nothing."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "You're smiling. Again."

"So what? I can't smile?" Her grin became wider.

"Not like that. You look too suspicious." Leonard didn't give her a chance to answer; he went straight into his room to change.

It took him about five minutes to get into his suit. When he came back down, Allison adjusted his tie and brushed off his suit.

"You're not gonna do anything with your hair?" She ruffled his hair.

"Hey!" He swatted away her hands. "You're messing it up."

"It was already messed up!"

"It was _not!_" He attempted to smooth his hair back down. "This is the way it always is."

Allison rolled her eyes. "Come here."

She pushed Leonard by his shoulders into the kitchen. She used some water from the kitchen sink to smooth his hair down before ruffling it slightly so it was more curly than straight.

"There." She turned Leonard around so he was facing the microwave. He saw himself in his reflection and leaned in a little closer to get a better look. "What do you think?"

He shrugged. "It looks pretty good."

"Oh admit it, you think it looks awesome." She pinched his cheek.

He made a motion to tell her to stop pinching him. "I think it looks _just fine_," he responded through clenched teeth. He didn't want to admit to her that it actually looked pretty good, because he knew she would tease him more than she was already.

"Mhmm." She nodded knowingly. "So do you have a corsage for her?"

"Of course I do." He walked toward the refrigerator and pulled out a plastic box with a yellow corsage.

"Aww." Allison clasped her hands together. "You guys are gonna look so cute together."

The doorbell rang, and Leonard practically dropped to the ground from the combination of surprise and nervousness. He quickly stuffed the corsage into Allison's hands and ran to the front. He stood in front of the door and took a deep breath before opening the door. Allison crept up behind him, but kept out of sight, so she could see the two of them.

Penny looked even more beautiful in her dress, if it were even possible. The shiny, golden cloth moved slightly with her movements and with the gentle breeze. The sequins shined in the sunlight and seemed to make her sparkle. She didn't have much makeup on, which Leonard liked. He always thought she was more beautiful without makeup. She didn't need all that fake, unnatural stuff to make look "prettier." Her hair was partially tied up, so some of her hair brushed her shoulders. It seemed to shine in the sun as well, and it was slightly curled, so it bounced as she moved.

"Hi, Leonard." She smiled her perfect smile.

Leonard's breath was taken away, so he could barely choke out, "Hi, Penny. Y-you look beautiful."

"Aww, thank you!" She gave Leonard a once-over. "You look great in that suit! And I love your hair. You look cute with curls." She grinned.

"Oh, heh. Thanks." Leonard blushed, becoming a deep red tomato within seconds. "Uh, come on in." He opened the door wider and stepped to the side so she could enter.

"Thanks."

Leonard closed the door and said, "I'll be right back."

He went to the kitchen, where Allison was still waiting. She was grinning again, and practically jumping in excitement.

"She's so _pretty!_" Allison exclaimed.

"I know," he responded as he took the corsage from his sister.

Leonard walked back to where Penny was waiting and when she saw the corsage, her mouth dropped in joy.

"That's so pretty! Aw, you're so sweet, Leonard!" She held out her hand as he put it on.

Leonard's hands were shaking ever so slightly as he took her hand in his and slipped the flowers onto her wrist. All he could think about was how soft and gentle her hand was.

When he looked up at her, she was looking into his eyes and smiling.

"We should get going." Leonard put his hand on Penny's back to lead her out of the house.

Allison popped out of the kitchen and yelled to them, "Wait! I need a picture of you two!" She pulled out her camera as Leonard glared at Allison and Penny giggled. "Come on, stand together!"

Leonard put his arm around Penny's waist as she laid her hand on his shoulder. She leaned her head toward his and smiled sweetly. Leonard put on the best smile he could as his sister snapped a picture.

"Bye, Ally."

"Have fun you guys!" Allison peeked through the window as she saw Leonard help Penny into the front seat. She couldn't help but grin excitedly.

* * *

><p>Once Leonard and Penny got to where the high school prom was being held, Leonard took Penny's hand and helped her out of the car. She had a smile plastered on her face the entire drive, and didn't stop smiling even after they got out.<p>

"Wow, this place is gorgeous," Penny gasped when they got inside.

Leonard looked around. "Yeah, they really spruced this place up, didn't they?" He pointed to a corner of the room. "There's our table over there."

He led her to her seat and sat down next to her. They didn't move from their seat for about the next hour, since dinner was served, and they both ate rather slowly, to savor the time between each other.

He couldn't help but sneak glances of Penny ever so often while they were eating. Penny would do the same to Leonard, and when they both caught each other stealing a glance, they would blush and chuckle lightly.

Once they were both done eating, Leonard brought Penny to one particular section of the room and sat down on a bench. They were out of sight of everyone else, and it was finally quiet.

Leonard sighed in exhaustion. "Um, I just thought you'd want to get away from all the craziness."

Penny laughed. "You read my mind. I was getting tired of all the noise." She leaned her head against Leonard's shoulder and played with her corsage. "Hey Leonard?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you having fun?"

Leonard looked down at her. "Well, yeah, of course. Why would you ask that?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I know you overheard when those guys were talking about us. And I don't know—maybe it bothered you."

"Oh. Well, no, I didn't mind that. I just ignored it." He saw her frowning. "…I think the better question is, did it bother _you?_"

She looked up at him for a second. "Maybe. I don't know. It's just—I don't like hearing that stuff. I don't know why they think I couldn't possibly be your prom date."

Leonard wrapped his arm around Penny and pulled her in closer to him. "Don't let it bother you. Some people are just judgmental. They wouldn't understand what a real…y'know, friendship is." The word "relationship" had run across Leonard's mind, but he was reluctant to say it, as he was afraid that Penny wasn't quite where he was.

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right."

"You wanna go take a walk?"

She smiled again. "Sure."

Leonard took Penny by the hand and led her outside. They both felt instantly relieved from the stuffy room. The night was cold, but not too cold. Nevertheless, Leonard took off his jacket and wrapped it around Penny's shoulders. They linked fingers and walked around the building before going back inside.

By then, the DJ was playing some softer, slower music. Penny asked Leonard an hour ago if he wanted to dance, but he refused, saying that he was not a good dancer. Although Penny did secretly want to dance with him, she wasn't bothered. She didn't want to take him out of his comfort zone, since he was already generally shy.

But now that the night was nearing an end, Leonard didn't want to take the opportunity to dance away from Penny and he asked her, "So, um, do you want to dance?"

Penny looked at him, initially surprised, since she knew how much he didn't want to dance, but shortly after, she broke out into a smile and took him by the hand and led him out to the dance floor.

They faced each other; Leonard put his hand around her waist while Penny laid her hand on his shoulder. As the music played, they leaned in closer and closer to each other, until Penny's head was on his shoulder.

Leonard took a few deep breaths, and his heart beat a lot faster than he thought it would. And he knew that Penny could feel it, since her chest was up against his. Leonard knew that if he didn't tell her soon, that he might never get the chance to.

"Hey, Penny…"

"Mhm?" Penny's eyes were closed, and she was more than comfortable with her head on his shoulder as they gently swayed back and forth.

He sighed nervously. "This might be my immaturity speaking here, and I know we're young, but I…I think I'm falling for you." Penny opened her eyes and lifted her head off his shoulder. She looked at him, surprised. In response, he spoke faster and faster. "And you know, I'd completely understand if you got freaked out right now and ran out of the room and—"

Penny immediately smiled and put her finger on his lips to make him stop talking. "Shh."

She slowly took her finger away and leaned in, planting a small kiss on his lips. Leonard was frozen in position, his face quickly becoming a deeper and deeper shade of red.

Penny broke the short silence between them. "Admitting you're falling for someone doesn't make you immature. Especially if that person is falling for you too."

"…Really?"

She nodded as she stared into his eyes. She couldn't help but notice that his eyes sparkled, even in the dim light. They were so soft and welcoming, and instantly captured her heart.

Something was different that night. Though she couldn't quite figure out what it was, it made her happy. Penny lay her head back down on Leonard's shoulder, and they danced, hand-in-hand, for the rest of the night.


End file.
